Why the FE:A translations of FE4 names aren't quite correct

[Darkslime]

Hey all! The NOA localizations of various names from FE4 that are contained in Awakening have been bothering me for a while now. Eventually this prompted me to do some of my own research, and I've realized why they've been bothering me so much. Please note that this post isn't written in anger or anything, I just thought I'd share the results of my research.

My basic argument is this: Many of the names of characters and items in Genealogy of Holy War are taken from Norse and other Scandinavian mythologies, with the occasional European myth thrown in here and there. However, the game seems to make a point of slightly misspelling the common spelling for nearly all the names. Note that the English transliterations are themselves often highly inaccurate in the first place, and the Japanese katakana spellings might even be using the English transliterations as a base, so... It's a mess in general, but here we go.

For example: We have the Balmung, one of the legendary weapons in FE4 - this is it's translated name. And obviously, this comes from the name Balmung, apparently Siegfried's sword, though it's called a lot of different things. Balmung is clearly the most common English transliteration from whatever language it originated in. Interestingly enough, though, its most common spelling in Japanese is バルムング (barumungu), implying the spelling "balmung" - but in FE4, it's actually called バルムンク (barumunku), implying the spelling "balmunk" or "balmunc".

If this was just an isolated case, then the point could be made that this was unintentional. However, throughout the entire game, they seem to have a penchant for just barely misspelling the origins to get the name.

Diadora is ディアドラ (diadora), while Dierdre is usually just デアドラ (deadora)

Midayle is ミデェール (mideeru), while the mythological figure is named Midir, spelled ミディール (midiiru)

Noish is ノイッシュ (noisshu), while the mythological figure's name is Naoise, spelled ノイシュ (noishu) (incidentally, he was the one married to Dierdre; his brothers were Anri(Alec) and Ardan)

Cuan/Quan is キュアン (kyuan), while the mythological figure's name is Cian, spelled キアン (cian) - NOA translation got this right actually

Delmud is デルムッド (derumuddo), while the mythological figure's name is Diarmuid, spelled ディルムッド (dirumuddo) (incidentally part of the Fiana Knights or whatever)

Azmur is アズムール (azumuuru), which comes from Audhulma, spelled アウズフルマ (aruzuhuruma)

Beowulf is ベオウルフ (beourufu), while the mythological figure's name is spelled ベーオウルフ (beeourufu)

That boss from the prologue, Demaggio, is from Joe DiMaggio's last name, and is spelled デマジオ (demajio) as opposed to ディマジオ (dimajio)

As you can see, even random midbosses' names are based in mythology - and even they are slightly misspelled. I'm of the opinion that the writers did this on purpose.

However, there do also seem to be a few names that the FE4 writers actually spelled correctly, like Byron (バイロン), from Lord Byron, and Lachesis (ラケシス), from the Fate of the same name. Ironically enough, though, the NOA version of Lachesis's name is actually Raquesis. Where they got that from I have no idea. In addition, Jamka is ジャムカ (jamuka), obviously based on the Mongol leader Jamukha, yet was translated as Jamke for some reason. Seti's name is translated as Ced when the name is obviously taken from the end of Forseti, the Norse god of justice.

I'm not going to get into Eltshan's name, for which the closest thing I could find was "ils chantent" (French for "they sing"), though he is probably based on Richard the Lionhearted. No clue where they got Eldigan from.

In the end, the logic used for the NOA translations of the name completely escape me. I mean, if they were going for actual mythological names, they would have named Finn "Fionn" or something. On the other hand, some of the NOJ English spellings are weird too. On the other OTHER hand, I could just be reading way too much into this and the writers for FE4 didn't actually have a real naming scheme, or else the common katakana spellings were different at the time.

EIther way, it was interesting to learn about some of the mythology behind it, at least.

[RJWalker]

Have you considered that they might have intentionally not used the exact mythological references? They don't necessarily have to use the actula mythological name. Sure they referenced a lot of it but it seems pretty clear that they were intentional in not using the exact 'correct' name because a simple google search is all it takes to find out about theese exact references.

[shadowofchaos]

Have you considered that they might have intentionally not used the exact mythological references? They don't necessarily have to use the actual mythological name.

This is the exact same point that was brought up in many translation patch threads... and as you can see those have either been locked or completely ignored as time went on.

Katakana is ambiguous. There can be multiple, completely valid spellings of the same word.

オリヴィエ、オリヴィア、オリビア are all valid spellings for "Olivia"... and even the first one is pronounce "Olivie".

I might be having an elitist opinion about this, but name arguments in forums especially when it comes to translation patches are just "having an illusion of getting something done" while actually not. Whether or not someone actually chooses to implement a patch while pursuing this path is their own choice.

If anything "improvement" translation patches I approve of are actually "starting from scratch" and fixing bugs like the most recent FE5 one.

Edited June 5, 2013 by shadowofchaos

[JSND Alter Dragon Boner]

Have you considered that they might have intentionally not used the exact mythological references? They don't necessarily have to use the actula mythological name.

Othin, the son of Finn

>_>

[RJWalker]

Well the translation patch was more about changing names to be consistent with the recent games and it goes beyond just character names. As for fixing bugs, I don't know about that.

[shadykid]

something about complaining about localization name changes just screams WEEB (the bad way), especially when so many translations from FE4 were off

Edited June 6, 2013 by shadykid

[PKLucas531]

Well the translation patch was more about changing names to be consistent with the recent games and it goes beyond just character names. As for fixing bugs, I don't know about that.

Gharnef said he'd take a shot at fixing the freezing ending once someone finishes the game

It's my fault that hasn't happened, since I think I'm the farthest of any playtesters and I'm slacking

And the only name change I really hate is Ced. The others are whatever, they're just names.

Edited June 5, 2013 by PKLucas531

[NoNameAtAll]

tl;dr BAWWW, I HATE NoA's names.

Whether they're correct or not, they're the official English names (for NA anyway. Probably Europe as well, but eh). Calling them by anything else just causes confusion for those unaware of the fanslation.

[MoahRikunel]

They're the same in Europe except for Cellica who is named Cecilia in France. Yes a slighly change.

[Iridium]

They're the same in Europe except for Cellica who is named Cecilia in France. Yes a slighly change.

Then what's Cecilia's name?

[Tamanoir]

They're the same in Europe except for Cellica who is named Cecilia in France. Yes a slighly change.

Checked again and it's "Celica". The DLC website made the same mistakes than NOA